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Minnesota committee hears testimony on bill to restrict Shakopee facility to "biological women"; House File 435 laid over
Summary
A Minnesota House public safety committee heard hours of testimony and debate over House File 435, a bill that would restrict Minnesota Correctional Facility–Shakopee to ‘‘biological women.’’ Lawmakers discussed DOC placement policy, safety concerns, and legal risk before laying the bill over for later consideration.
A Minnesota House Public Safety Committee hearing on House File 435 drew extended testimony and heated exchanges over whether the state women’s prison in Shakopee should be limited to people the bill’s author described as "biological women." After hours of discussion, the committee laid the bill over for future consideration.
House File 435, introduced in committee as a measure to keep certain correctional spaces restricted by biological sex, generated debate over safety, placement policy and how the Department of Corrections assesses gender identity for placement. Representative Branson, the bill’s author, told the committee, "Members, House file 4 35 is about protecting biological women. So that's enough. It is about keeping their spaces women only." The committee ultimately "laid over" the bill at the end of the session, meaning no final vote or recommendation was made.
The bill prompted repeated questions about how the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) determines placement. Commissioner Paul Schnell, commissioner of…
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